Treatment of Discoid Lupus Erythematosus with Upadacitinib: A Case Report

Abstract

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a group of diseases within the spectrum of lupus that primarily manifests with skin lesions. Discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE) is the most common subtype of CLE. Currently, there is no specific medication available for the treatment of CLE. Here, we reported the efficacy and safety of upadacitinib, a JAK1 selective inhibitor, in treating one DLE patient for 28 weeks. Upadacitinib 15mg QD alone improved DLE lesions significantly, while reduction of the drug to 15mg QOD led to a relapse of the skin lesions. Upadacitinib showed favorable safety in this DLE patient in the 28-week period, except for acne, which was controlled by topical application of benzoyl peroxide gel. In this case, we observed rapid and sustained improvement of DLE lesions using upadacitinib with favorable safety, which provided the opportunity to use upadacitinib as an alternative therapy for DLE.

Keywords:

• cutaneous lupus erythematosus
• upadacitinib
• JAK inhibitor
• discoid lupus erythematosus

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. Suchun Hou and Dr. Xikang Wu for their contributions in immunofluorescent staining, pathological image analysis and diagnosis.

Consent Statement

The patients in this manuscript have given written informed consent to the publication of the case details.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

There is no funding to report.